82 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



barnyard millet. The result was that the witch grass dis- 

 appeared, and I presume it would frequently result in that 

 way. 



On the question of pasturage I am with Professor Cook, 

 against Mr. Ellis ; but 1 am not with Professor Cook on the 

 theory that it has disappeared for good. I found out how 

 little actual growth there was in pastures by mowing a pasture 

 on a deserted farm which I secured a few years ago. When 

 Mr. Ellis thinks by taking the top off three or four times he is 

 getting twice as much as if he let it grow, he is much 

 mistaken. 



Mr. Ellis. Did you ever try leaving a lawn, that was 

 usually cut twenty different times a season, each time a couple 

 of inches ? 



Mr. Potter. I do not believe if you tried it and weighed it 

 that you would get any more than if you left it until ripe and 

 then weighed it. We think our cattle are getting a good deal, 

 but it is not there. You cannot get something out of nothing. 

 But I do not believe it is time to give up our pastures. We 

 must fertilize that land. Some of our pastures have not had 

 a particle of new seed or manure for a hundred years, and 

 this is a system of robbery. We must put some of our fer- 

 tilizer on our pastures. If we plow our pastures where 

 they are smooth enough, and harrow and fertilize, we shall 

 soon have some feed that is worth while, and that will help 

 amazingly in getting milk cheaply. 



Mr. Dodge. I am connected with the United States 

 Department of Agriculture, and one of our men has been 

 giving his time for a good many years to the study of grazing 

 property. Pie has worked in the west and the central States, 

 but is now and will be for some time to come studying the 

 question of grazing in the eastern States. He believes that 

 the most serious difficulty is from overgrazing, both by too 

 heavy a stock per acre and too long a season. lie believes that 

 two weeks' delay in turning the cattle out in the spring would 

 make all the difference between good and poor pastures, as it 

 is needed to give I ho grass a start. He points out that many 

 pastures cannot be plowed. We must find some other way' 

 there, — the scratch harrow, or the use of chemicals or addi- 



